Julia Roberts defended her new film “After the Hunt” at a heated Venice Film Festival press conference, where the star was questioned about the film’s statements surrounding the #MeToo movement and accusations of sexual assault.
The thriller, set in the world of higher education, stars Roberts as a beloved college professor who finds herself at a personal and professional crossroads when her mentee (Edebiri) accuses are friend and colleague (Garfield) of crossing a line. As she navigates the situation, a dark secret from her own past threatens to come to light.
Roberts first waved off a question about the film undermining the feminist movement, saying that she wants the movie to bring up difficult conversations around the topic.
“Not to be disagreeable, because it’s not in my nature, but the thing you said that I love is it revives old arguments. I don’t think it’s just reviving an argument of women being pitted against each other or not supporting each other, but there are a lot of old arguments that get rejuvenated that creates conversation,” Roberts said. “The best part of your question is that you all came out of the theater talking about it. That’s how we wanted it to feel. You realize what you believe in strongly because we stir it all up for you. So, you’re welcome.”
Asked again about the topic, Roberts cited the 1983 Western “Tender Mercies” and said that she loves the fact that “After the Hunt” is a movie where the “camera landed in a place and happened to document what was going on where it landed.”
“We’re not making statements, we are portraying these people in this moment in time,” she continued. “And the camera has fallen from the sky in this particular moment and captures all this, and that’s what I think is sort of incredible about it.”
Roberts added: “I don’t know about controversy per se, but we are challenging people to have conversation and to be excited about that or to be infuriated about it. It’s up to you, whether you drink martinis or lemonade after the movie … That to me is the most exciting bit, because we’re kind of losing the art of conversation in humanity right now. And if making this movie does anything, getting everybody to talk to each other is the most exciting thing that I think we could accomplish.”
“After the Hunt” is playing out of competition at Venice, which is currently in full swing with recent and upcoming premieres of Yorgos Lanthimos and Emma Stone’s conspiracy thriller “Bugonia,” George Clooney and Adam Sandler’s road-trip dramedy “Jay Kelly,” Kathryn Bigelow’s “The House of Dynamite” and Dwayne “the Rock” Johnson’s MMA drama “The Smashing Machine.”
Guadagnino was last at Venice with “Queer,” a romantic period drama starring Daniel Craig and Drew Starkey. The Italian auteur has a long history with the festival, having premiered such films as 2022’s “Bones and All,” 2018’s “Susperia” remake, 2015’s “A Bigger Splash” and others on the Lido. Meanwhile, Roberts, Garfield and Edebiri are making their Venice Film Festival debut with “After the Hunt,” which premieres on Friday evening.